Worcester, Mass. – Host Clark University raced out to a 4-0 lead and then held off a hard-charging Skidmore College squad, 13-9 to remain undefeated in men's lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon at the Granger Sports Complex.

The Cougars improve to 6-0 with the win, continuing their best start in school history, while the Thoroughbreds fall back to .500 at 3-3.

Clark got several huge offensive performances, including the third four-goal performance in his last four games from sophomore Will Mandracchia (Melrose, Mass.), three more from Rob Holden (Longmeadow, Mass.) and two goals and four assists from Nick Johnson (Amherst, Mass.).

Defensively for the Scarlet and White, Drew Riopelle-Tyrrell (Northville, Mich.) turned aside 14 shots, giving him 30 in the last two games.

Clark jumped out early, as Isaac Bass (Amherst, Mass.) and Jack Pierce (Westborough, Mass.) put the Cougars ahead 2-0 in the game's first five minutes.

That lead doubled later in the quarter as Mandracchia registered his first of the day and then Johnson fed Holden for a beautiful score with 5:16 left in the frame.

Skidmore responded when Henry Thomsett (Berkeley, Calif.) found the back of the net with a little more than three minutes left to play and then Jack Curry (Holliston, Mass.) started the second quarter with another Thoroughbred score, making the game, 4-2.

Ryan MacNeil (Weymouth, Mass.) found Johnson for a Clark score and that was followed by Johnson and Holden connecting again for a 6-2 Cougar advantage.

The visitors kept coming back as Cody Legeza (Ponte Verde, Fla.) and Will Murphy (Medfield, Mass.) each recorded tallies to close the gap but Jack Goracy (West Islip, N.Y.) took a Ryan Moore (West Hartford, Conn.) pass and fired a rocket into the back of the net for a 7-4 halftime edge.

Clark scored two of the three third quarter goals as Johnson and Mandracchia posted goals to push the lead to 9-4 midway through the period.

Undeterred, Kevin Mulvey (Westfield, N.J.) scored two goals in less than two minutes covering the end of the third and start of the fourth to ignite the Skidmore offense and inch them closer at 9-6.

Goracy got a much-needed score for the Scarlet and White with 12:55 left in regulation and then Johnson and Holden teamed up again, this time for a man-up score less than a minute later to give the Cougars some breathing room.

Mulvey continued to keep the Thoroughbreds close with his third tally in less than five minutes of game time, making the score 11-7 with a little more than nine minutes left.

Mandracchia answered with a fantastic man-up strike with help from Johnson to bump the Clark lead back to five.

Things got tighter as Curry scored less than ten seconds after Mandracchia's third and then scored again, making the game 12-9 with 4:21 to play.

Skidmore had a chance to get within two after a huge save by Chris Baughan (Foxboro, Mass.), but a costly turnover was scooped up by MacNeil and eventually made its way into the Thoroughbred zone where Mandracchia capped off the scoring with his fourth of the afternoon.

Incredibly, the game was amazingly even statistically with Skidmore holding a slight 43-41 edge in shots, each team winning 13 faceoffs and both teams committing 13 turnovers.

Clark held a 49-24 edge in groundballs and went 2-for-6 on the man advantage.

Both goalkeepers were excellent with Riopelle-Tyrrell and his 14 aforementioned saves and Baughan turning back 15 for Skidmore.

Curry and Mulvey each finished with three goals for the Thoroughbreds, while Murphy had a tally and five groundballs.

For Holden and Johnson, meanwhile, their high scoring careers continue as they make their way up the program's all-time scoring list. Holden is now just the sixth player to reach 90 goals and is just ten points shy of passing head coach Jeff Cohen on the school's all-time points scored list.

With his performance today, Johnson (150) leapfrogged his brother and current assistant coach Chris (145) for fourth on the school's scoring list and is now only 35 points shy of the all-time record of the 184 points accumulated by Shawn Roche from 2006-10.

Both teams will return to action on Tuesday against NESCAC opponents. Skidmore hosts Williams while Clark travels to Wesleyan.